I Can't Believe I Did That, or "Reasons why you should not dump couscous down the disposal"

I re-discovered "Couscous" a couple weeks ago. Gary introduced me to it many years ago, but I haven't touched the 1/2 gallon bottle of it that he gave me for many, many years.

On our way back to Utah from Idaho two weekends ago, we stopped at Winco in Pocatello. They have this wonderful bulk food section that has practically everything you would ever want to purchase in bulk. They also have recipes that go along with all the bulk stuff that they sell. They had this fun tri-colored couscous -the recipe that went along with it sounded good, so I poured a few scoops into a bag to purchase.

I cooked some of it last week, using the recipe that I also picked up, and it was really good. Yesterday I decided that I should just dump out the old couscous that has been holding up in my pantry for years. Like I said before, this was a full 1/2 gallon bottle. I dumped it down the drain, turned on the disposal, and the only thing that happened was my sink began to fill up with couscous filled water. Oops!! I thought if I left it alone, the water would drain, but it never did. I tried to scoop all the couscous out with my hand - but the water would still not drain. I tried bailing the water out of the sink & then using the disposal, nope.

I resigned my self to waiting until Terrell came home and hoping that he would unclog the drain for me. When something is broken at my house, I feel like my whole house is a disaster zone. Luckily for me, the left sink drained just fine, so I knew the clog was in the little pipe that connected the disposal to the sink drain.

When Emilie came over, we tried to plunge the drain but all it did was flip couscous water up and all over the cabinets. She gave me the confidence I needed to unscrew the pipe and then we tried to unclog the couscous from the pipe. First we used a skewer. Too flimsy. Our next idea was to use a pencil. It broke. But - a little butter knife did do the trick and I scraped & scooped all the soggy couscous out of the pipe until it was clear.

Yep, I learned a lesson. don't put couscous down the drain. You will be sorry.

I got this picture off the internet. If you've never been to Trader Joe's, that should be a goal for your life. What a fun store. Too bad the closest one is in Las Vegas.

If you are craving couscous after reading this - go find some at your local store and make up this tasty side dish:

Couscous:
Saute some cut-up vegetables of your choice in 2 Tbsp butter until nearly tender. (carrot, bell pepper & onion are good) Add
one & a half cups water or broth (I used chicken broth) and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup couscous, 1/2 tsp salt & stir. reduce heat, cover and cook for 3-5 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Stir to fluff up and serve. (I also added some chopped up tomato at this point)
Makes five 1/2 cup servings.